The Cost of Mission

I don't think it has been mentioned prominently in the news media here in the UK, though you can find out about it here, but the plight of a group of Korean Christians in Afghanistan reminds us of the risks of gospel mission. These people knew the risks, yet have been willing to take them for the sake of the name of Christ and out of love for the people of Afghanistan. Now two of the original twenty three are dead, and others may follow.

There are those who would criticise them and the church who gave its blessing to the venture. However, on the Warfield list, Pastor Andrew Webb reminds us that,

In prior centuries, it was understood that becoming a missionary was an assurance of an early death. It was said that the young men and women who served Christ in the mission field went out bearing their coffins with them. They went because they loved their Lord, they heard his call and they saw the need. They saw the sin, the sickness,the want, and the darkness in which many whom Christ died to save were living and their desire was to bring light in that darkness, to feed the hungry, tend to the sick, and bring the eternal hope of the gospel to a world without hope. So they went out with Christ's assurance: "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it."

Read the rest of his comment, especially his quote from M'Cheyne.